Consumer Attitudes Towards Counterfeit Goods: The Case of Canadian and Chinese Consumers

Ethical implications in business practices and consumers’ purchase decisions have been debated throughout the years and often differ across cultures. The research objectives of this study were to understand whether cultural indicators influence consumer attitudes towards counterfeiting. Which cultural factors/ indicators have an effect on attitudes and how strong are these indicators? In this study, moral intensity, materialism, subjective norm, ethnic identity, values, and belief systems were explored. Focus groups, one consisting of Canadian consumers and the other of Chinese consumers, were conducted to explore cultural indicators. A follow-up survey tested the relative strength of the cultural indicators: moral intensity, materialism, and subjective norm, within each of the two ethnic groups and the correlation of these indicators with attitude. Subjective norm had a significantly larger effect in the Chinese group than the Canadian group on attitudes towards counterfeit goods. Moral intensity and materialism did not significantly affect attitudes.